Nyehaus and Dorfman Projects present in Technicolor
THE VERY LAST PLASTICS SHOW Industrial L.A. 1965 to the Present May 10
39 E 67th Street PH5
July 31
529 WEST 20th STREET #7E
INTRODUCTION
Documentation of the 1960s Southern California plastic artists may be as minimal as their aesthetics, but certainly does not approach their innovation. Searching through my archives, I discovered a thin little jewel from 1972 called “The Last Plastics Show” that had been organized by Hastings Plastics, the fabricators of many of these artists’ works. Usually, these lists tend to draw from a repeated band of insiders. To my delight, a number of new names crept up warranting exploration. Names like Greg Card, Linda Levi and Vasa had appeared in Bonhams “Made in California” sales, but had not found their way into any of the exhibition catalogs that I had come across. I felt like Indiana Jones in the Search for the Lost Plastics! “Industrial man—a sentient reciprocating engine having a fluctuating output, coupled to an iron wheel revolving with uniform velocity. And then we wonder why this should be the golden age of revolution and mental derangement.” — Aldous Huxley, Time Must Have A Stop, 1944 With the flick of a switch Industrial Man turns on the machinery to forge the object. There is transference of imperfect energy, a static electricity that injects the object with a soul. The joyous mishap is where the art happens. The speed of technological advancement over the last decade or so barely pierces the psychic consciousness of jaded society’s Millenials. They look at cassette tapes the same way my generation might look at an ancient fossil. The artists in The Very Last Plastic Show (TVLPS) began making work in the mid-60s, a time when minute incremental innovation wasn’t buried under twitter feeds and multi-spastic-tasking. Wake up and smell the plastic! When this revolutionary group of SoCal artists drew inspiration from the smog-smudged signage of Los Angeles, moronic critics dismissed them as “bobbles of the rich.” Plastic was an industrial material used for manufacturing. Luckily the aerodynamic sexiness of the space age and the emerging surfboard shaping culture and the flame throwing hot rods, instilled coolness in to these pedestrian materials, stirring up a wave of Plasticians. The translucent and reflective properties could be blown, sucked and cast into objects that “emulated” rather than “depicted” Californian atmospheres and liquid alchemy. Color fused with light exploded the limitations of pigment, blinding the detractors like staring into an eclipse. Peter Alexander, Larry Bell, Lynda Benglis, Greg Card, Judy Chicago, Ron Cooper, Ronald Davis, Laddie John Dill, Linda Levi, August Muth, Terry O’Shea and Vasa exalt the intrinsic splendor and simplicity of these materials. LESS IS MORE. — Tim Nye
PETER ALEXANDER 1939
GREY WEDGE, 1967 87 x 5.25 x 5.25” Polyester Resin
PETER ALEXANDER 1939
9/17/12, 2012 40 x 40” Urethane
LARRY BELL 1939
UNTITLED, 1969 Box: 14.25 x 14.25 x 14.25” Plexi Pedestal: 41 x 14.25 x 14.25” Vacuum-Plated Glass with Metal Binding
LARRY BELL 1939
UNTITLED, 1979 30 x 39” Aluminum Vapor Drawing on Black Paper
LYNDA BENGLIS 1941
JIHOMO (NOVY BOR PROJECT I), 1997 20 x 9.5 x 4.5” Unique Hand-Blown Glass Sculpture
GREG CARD 1945
ALWAYS BEFORE YOU-HLN-R, 1972 11 x 14� Colored Ballpoint Ink & Resin on Paper Mounted on Conservation Board
GREG CARD 1945
HARMONIC LIGHT NOTE – 013 – SQ, 1972 10 x 10” Colored Ballpoint Ink & Resin on Paper Mounted on Conservation Board
JUDY CHICAGO 1939
EVENING FAN - FRESNO FANS SERIES, 1971 60 x 120” Sprayed Acrylic on Acrylic
JUDY CHICAGO 1939
MODEL FOR FRESNO FANS SERIES 1971 15 x 30” Sprayed Acrylic on Acrylic
RON COOPER 1943
LIGHT TRAP, 1969 50 X 50� Fiberglass, Plexiglass and Mirror
RONALD DAVIS 1937
BACKUP, 1969 60 1/2 x 136� Molded Polyester Resin and Fiberglass
RONALD DAVIS 1937
ZIG-ZAG TIMES TWO, 1966 84 3/4 x 61 5/8” Liquatex Acrylic on Canvas
RONALD DAVIS 1937
FA2: FREE ASSOCIATION SERIES, 2014 17.5 x 18 x 11” Argon, Glass Tubing, Wires, Transformers
LADDIE JOHN DILL 1945
FA8: FREE ASSOCIATION SERIES, 2014 Argon, Glass Tubing, Wires, Transformers
LADDIE JOHN DILL 1945
LIGHT SENTENCE (20), 1971 89.5” Argon, Mercury, Glass
LADDIE JOHN DILL 1945
LIGHT SENTENCE, 1971 70.5 x .5” Argon, Glass Tubing, Wires, Transformers
LINDA LEVI 1935
DOUBLE ORANGE, 1965 13 1/2 x 6 1/2”
LINDA LEVI 1935
GREEN DOME, 1966 21 x 5 ”
LINDA LEVI 1935
HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 1967 12 5/16 x 14 3/4 x 6 1/4”
LINDA LEVI 1935
PYRAMIDS AT GIZA, 1970 30 x 24 x 20”
AUGUST MUTH 1955
EMPYREAM, 2014 22 x 20.25 x 1.75� Laminated Glass with Holographic Image
AUGUST MUTH 1955
HALOS #19 23 x 21.5 x 1� Laminated Glass with Holographic Image
AUGUST MUTH 1955
LUMINOUS TUNNEL, 2009 18.5 x 18.5” Laminated Glass with Holographic Image
TERRY O’SHEA 1941
UNTITLED CAPSULE, 1968 3 x 1.5” Cast Polyester Resin
TERRY O’SHEA 1941
UNTITLED SLAB, 1972 12 x 12 x 2.5” Cast Resin
VASA 1933
RED, WHITE, DARK BLUE, LIGHT BLUE, 1966 Red: 84 x 11 x 2” Dark Blue: 84 x 7 x 2” White: 84 x 11 x 2” Light Blue: 84 x 15 x 2” Lacquer on Wood, Painted Construction
VASA 1933
UNTITLED, 1968 24 x 30� Painted Masonite with Automobile Lacquer
39 E 67th Street PH5
529 WEST 20th STREET #7E